Proverbs 1:17

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

(Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird) - Hebrew, 'any master of a wing,' (cf. margin.) In vain those sinners lay snares for as many godly men as they can; not one of these is taken: but the sinners themselves are caught in their own snare (cf. with ). The "in vain" of Solomon here answers, in caustic irony, to the 'in vain' (the English version, "without cause"), , of the sinners' plotting. They say, the godly are 'innocent in vain,' but it is themselves who 'spread their net in vain.'